Tuesday, August 9, 2011

As one might expect from an economic powerhouse of it's size, North Korea has a lot going for it: roving blackouts, insane dictators, packs of wild dogs running loose in the streets. Now you can add to that list an elite squad of government backed super hackers.

Police in Seoul reported that five Korean hackers were arrested for breaking into the servers of popular South Korean online games, organizing an automated gold and equipment farming operation, and sending part of the profits to Kim Jong-Il’s North Korean government.

According to The New York Times, the full “hacking squad” consisted of around 30 people operating dozens of computers that automatically played games like Lineage and Dungeon and Fighter 24/7.

What's that you say? Lineage is really popular overseas? Ok, I'll shut up now.

Police said the organizers of the squad may have made $6 million in less than two years by selling in-game points and equipment to legitimate players for cash. 55% of the proceeds went to the hackers, and some of the remainder went to Pyongyang.

According to police, “North Korean agencies, increasingly hamstrung by international sanctions, were exploring any new means to raise cash for Mr. Kim and prove their loyalty.”

Shockingly, North Korea denied everything and called the story “an invented conspiracy.”

If North Korea can make 6 million dollars by hacking Lineage servers there has got to be a way for Seal Team 6 to make some coin on the professional Call of Duty circuit. Think about it, we could close our national deficit and pound some nerds all at the same time. Who's with me?

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My name is Kevin and I blog, mostly about nerdy stuff. I'm old enough to know that Gobots came before Transformers and geeky enough to care.
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